Born in Whyalla and moving to Adelaide in her teens, Tania Ingram became a child psychologist before taking a break to spend more time with her family, which was when she began writing stories for children. The Jinny and Cooper series evolved from Tania's daughter begging her to write a story about a magical guinea pig. Then three months after finishing the first Jinny and Cooper book, Tania was given two baby guinea pigs. One of them had scruffy black and brown fur and never ate carrots. Furthermore, he proved to be very mischievous (Tania once had to pull a hama bead off his bottom teeth!). Of course, he was immediately named Cooper. Tania lives in the Adelaide hills with her family.